How Does John Stuart Mill Define Happiness

The ultimate goal in life for an individual is to achieve true happiness. Happiness most often means you have achieved your accomplishments with ample success and wealth. In order to truly know yourself, you must know where your beliefs lie and what is truly important to you. I agree with John Stuart Mill’s theory because even though happiness can be very controversial, it portrays the everlasting effect of what true happiness is. Happiness can be found in many different forms by focusing on things that change your life, (not on materialistic items), focusing on the moments that will be remembered for a lifetime, and how joy can come unexpectedly. To begin, happiness cannot be bought by materialistic objects. Materialistic items only bring temporary happiness in

In the article, “In Pursuit of Unhappiness”, it claims that “the enjoyments of life (such was now my theory) are sufficient to make it a pleasant thing, when they are taken en passant, without being made a principal object” (Mill). As Mill stated happiness can be anywhere and when you are least expecting it, could appear. For example, many religions worship a god that helps them know how to fulfill their lives with respect and value. When overwhelming troubles stand in individuals’ ways, to overcome the stress, what are needed are a deep breath and a look at the things around them. Unexpectedly, events may arise changing the mood of so many people, however, even when something has importance, it will always be outranked by another priority. In paragraph 4 in the article, “In Pursuit of Unhappiness”, Carlyle states that “many people in the 17th century turned to God’s providence to create lasting felicity” (McMahon). When life takes unexpected roads, for the good or bad, anything can occur that could create happiness such as beliefs or even a smile from an unknown